British media lash out

Monday

British newspapers have savaged England’s World Cup squad and called upon Coach Fabio Capello to quit after elimination by a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Germany.

Yesterday’s loss in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was marked by a refereeing mistake that denied England’s Frank Lampard a goal, sparking fresh calls for goal line technology or video replays.

But the papers’ anger was mainly directed at the players and Capello.

The Sun summed up the mood, devoting its front page to a banner headline: “You let your country down.”

The back page of the mass-circulation tabloid read “Time’s up Fab,” and printed a photo of the players alongside the statement, “Go — and take these losers with you!”

The Daily Mail exhumed wartime references despite both teams’ efforts to play down their nations’ complex political history.

It mangled a famous speech by Winston Churchill to compare the players’ poor performance with the spirit of British fighter pilots during World War II.

“If The Few had defended as badly as England we’d all be speaking German now,” declared a front-page headline.

The Daily Mirror headlined “FabiGo” on its back page, adding: “England are humiliated but coach calls it a good performance … sorry Capello, you should quit in shame.”

IN-HOUSE FEED: FIFA will censor World Cup match action being shown on giant screens inside the stadium after replays of Argentina’s disputed first goal against Mexico fueled arguments on the pitch.

Angry Mexico players protested to referee Roberto Rosetti after the screens in Johannesburg’s Soccer City showed Argentina forward Carlos Tevez was offside before he scored the opening goal in a 3-1 victory.

FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said that replaying the incident was “a clear mistake.”

“This will be corrected, and we will have a closer look into that,” Maingot said.

Maingot said FIFA has not yet received feedback from its officials about a mass confrontation between coaches and players behind the Mexico bench as the teams left the field at halftime.

Italian referee Roberto Rosetti was at the center of a melee trying to separate heated conversations that included Argentina Coach Diego Maradona.

DIRTY THIEVES: Cleaning staff at the luxury hotel where England stayed during the World Cup stole football shirts, a medal and even underwear from players, police said today.

Police spokeswoman Junior Metsi said cash was taken — about 500 pounds (roughly $750). The thieves seemed interested in souvenirs, such as a United States shirt an England player received in the customary postmatch trade. A medal awarded by FIFA and underwear also disappeared in a spree police say began June 21.

The thefts were not reported to police until Saturday. Metsi said police solved the case within a day, searching the homes of staff at the hotel near Rustenburg.

“Everything that was stolen was recovered and” the thieves “are now behind bars,” she said.

Yesterday, a special World Cup court convicted five hotel workers of the thefts. They were sentenced to three years in prison and fined 6,000 rand (about $800).

HOT SEAT: The president of the U.S. Soccer Federation said the American team did not meet his expectations at the World Cup and that he likely will meet with Bob Bradley after the tournament to discuss the coach’s future.

Bradley, hired in December 2006, has a contract running through the end of the year. The Americans were eliminated Saturday with a 2-1 overtime loss to Ghana in the second round.

USSF President Sunil Gulati said that, at this level, “we’re disappointed we didn’t get to play another 90 minutes at least.”

TV FARE: The United States’ 2-1 loss to Ghana was the most-watched men’s World Cup game ever in this country.

The Nielsen Co. said Saturday’s game was seen by an estimated 14.9 million viewers on ABC. An additional 4.5 million people watched on the Spanish-language Univision.

Nielsen said only the 1999 Women’s World Cup final, featuring the United States and China and played at the Rose Bowl, had more viewers for a soccer game on an English-language network in the United States. That game averaged just fewer than 18 million viewers.

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